Jaramillo Sentenced

A murder suspect’s flight from Gila County Sheriff’s deputies will cost him five years in prison, no matter how the White Mountains murder trial turns out.

A man who spurred a dramatic chase from Globe to Roosevelt Lake last year and a subsequent five-day manhunt was sentenced Monday to five years in prison.

A jury last month found Gabriel “Gaby” Jaramillo, 58, of Eagar, guilty of fleeing from officers and one count of aggravated assault against an officer during a wild, high-speed chase that started in Globe and ended with his engine shot full of holes on the shores of Roosevelt Lake.

The jury acquitted Jaramillo on three counts of attempted murder of three sheriff’s deputies.

Officers had tried to stop Jaramillo in Globe to question him about the murder of an Eagar man. Jaramillo briefly stopped, then sped away from officers in the victim’s truck.

Several officers fired at Jaramillo during the chase, eventually immobilizing the vehicle, and Jaramillo fled on foot into the forest north of Roosevelt Lake.

After several days, boaters spotted Jaramillo near the lake’s shore and officers arrested him without incident.

Jaramillo will next face murder charges in the death of Steven Long in Apache County.